I generally enjoy the examples of this subgenre that I've already read (China Mieville is one of my favorite authors of the last 15 years). But this collection is a mixed bag. I suppose all short story collections are like that to an extent, especially those that aren't by a single author. And since so much of "new weird" writing is highly stylized, there are some author's whose writing style is just an enormous block towards reading enjoyment.

Also, only about half of this book is what the main selling point to me was (recent stories). There is a section of older influential stories, most of which I had already read. There are a lot of literary essays (and I find literary discussion of genre semantics to be tedious). And there's an experimental "round robin" story that's more interesting as a writing exercise than something to actually read.

A solid hard sci-fi book by an author I had never read before. Comparisons to Clarke's Rendevous with Rama are apt (down to a lack of resolution to the alien mystery). I did like the focus on the alien archeology studies.

I went in knowing many readers considered this an ok, but lackluster, followup to The Descent. And that was pretty much what I got. The world of a real "Hell" still had plenty of interesting things to do with it, which makes this rather frustrating. The growing colonization of the underworld (and competition between countries), the never-before-seen monsters, demon civilization, how the mythology of Satan and souls fit in with modern science ... things I wanted to know of that were ultimately glossed over.

The Descent is still a fantastic and original horror/sci-fi/adventure and one that I'd highly recommend to anyone who seemed game for the subject matter.